


What I Hear When You Don't Say A Thing

by raggirare



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-07
Packaged: 2018-02-12 05:31:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2097477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raggirare/pseuds/raggirare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes all someone needs is someone to just be there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What I Hear When You Don't Say A Thing

 

“Oh, Seijuurou-kun. It’s been a while!”

“Tachibana-san. It’s good to see you again. Is Makoto—“

“He’s just helping his mother put the twins to bed,” the man interrupted with a kind smile before gesturing back towards the living room he had emerged from. “Come inside. I’ll get you a drink while you wait.”

Seijuurou couldn’t find it in himself to protest - and, really, there wasn’t much reason for him to say no, because even if it had been a while since he’d seen Makoto’s parents, he did get on well with the boy’s father. So he slipped his shoes off and headed inside after the man, accepting a glass of iced tea he was offered the moment he walked through the door.

“You went to the meet today?” The man asked as they both sat down on the sofa and he reached for the remote to mute the television. “Makoto said your brother was there as well. How is Momo-kun?”

Seijuurou took a sip from his tea before holding the cup in his lap and letting himself sink back into the sofa. The Tachibana’s sofa had always been his favourite to sit on and relax into. “I did, yeah,” he said with a smile, his gaze turning towards the other man. “Momo’s good. He’s enjoying Samezuka and being on the swim team. He actually gave Makoto a run for his money in the backstroke, did he tell you? He managed to qualify as well. Not as easily as Makoto did, but not bad for a first year, either.” Seijuurou let a chuckle escape and Tachibana copied him, sipping at his beer before he spoke.

“And how was the freestyle?”

“Makoto’s?” Seijuurou asked, half doing it to clarify, half to try and buy time about how he was supposed to answer that sort of question. “It was good. Makoto did really good, considering he doesn’t train for that. He was beating himself up a bit but he seemed happy at the end of everything. I think he’s just anxious for tomorrow now.”

Tachibana nodded along as the red-head spoke, sipping from his beer can as he listened. “It’s the relay tomorrow, isn’t it?” Seijuurou nodded. “We’ll be there to watch.”

Seijuurou’s eyes widened in surprise, a grin pulling across his lips. “Really? The twins as well?”

“Yup. Twins as well. But don’t tell Makoto, hm? He doesn’t know yet.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Are you two talking about me again?” Makoto covered a yawn with one hand as he passed through the doorway, detouring to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

“Busted,” Seijuurou said with a laugh as he stood to follow him into the kitchen.

“I was just telling Seijuurou-kun about how I’d love to trade you for him as my son,” Makoto’s father joked as he reached for the remote again to unmute the television and continue watching his programme.

Makoto rolled his eyes but Seijuurou could spot the small smile on his lips still from where he stopped to lean against the hanging cupboards, finishing the last of his tea. “What are you doing here, anyway, Sei?” Makoto asked once his drink was poured and he turned around to lean back against the counter. “I thought you were with your family tonight.”

“Momo’s staying at the dorm tonight in the end,” Seijuurou reached past Makoto to place his glass in the sink, his head leaning in the opposite direction to press a brief kiss to Makoto’s cheek. “And I didn’t get to talk to you today, anyway. I didn’t think you’d be doing freestyle, either…” Even if he leaned into the kiss to his cheek, Makoto’s eyes flicked away and his lips pressed into a line at the mention of the race, and Seijuurou couldn’t help but sigh, his arms looping around the brunette’s waist. “Let’s go for a walk. The moon’s out.”

Makoto wanted to say no, Seijuurou could see it, but eventually he nodded and tilted his head back to finished the water in his glass and he excused himself to go and fetch a jacket - it wasn’t cold outside but it wasn’t completely warm, either. Seijuurou waited for him at the front door, slipping his shoes on and sitting on the small step in the meantime, only standing once Makoto had joined him and put his own shoes on as well.

Their walk was mostly silent, at first, as they followed the steps away from the house, stopping once or twice to greet stray cats that Makoto had befriended, before they headed down towards the beach. The tide was out, almost at its lowest, and the pair were able to slip their shoes off and walk out onto the sand, Makoto clambering onto a large rock to sit on top of it while Seijuurou stayed standing and simply leaned against it.

“You know I won’t push, Makoto,” Seijuurou finally broke the lingering silence between them after they had spent a few minutes staring up at the sky and watching the stars. “But you know I’m here.”

Silence followed, lingering between them, but Seijuurou did exactly as he said he would. He didn’t push and he let the silence hang and he just waited. He wanted to know, of course; he wanted to know why Makoto had tried to race the 200m freestyle, why his mood seemed to have shifted so dramatically afterwards, why he seemed to close up so coldly at the mere mention of it, but he also knew Makoto. He knew Makoto’s inclinations to hide behind a smile and play off everything as okay, especially if he was pushed too hard about a topic he wasn’t yet ready to talk about - and he only knew it because he’d manage to do it himself, once, and ended up locked out of the younger swimmer’s mind for a good week or two.

“Sei…” 

When Makoto’s voice finally did break the silence, though, Seijuurou was quick to react. There was a hand reaching down and tugging at his shirt, so he placed his shoes on top of the rock before pulling himself up as well. He sat himself down beside Makoto and wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller body when it pulled itself into his lap and he pressed his lips to the top of Makoto’s head while the backstroker curled into his chest. There were no words, only gentle sobs and a shaking body in his arms, and it wasn’t the first time Seijuurou had seen Makoto cry, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last, so he simply held him. He pressed kisses to the top of his head and rubbed one hand over Makoto’s arm, but he ultimately stayed silent and simply waited.

Lips met lips after a long while and Seijuurou’s hands shifted to Makoto’s face, thumbs wiping away the last evidence of tears from the brunette’s cheeks as he submitted into the kiss. It was soft and comforting, Makoto seeking some sort of reassurance and Seijuurou more than happy to provide it. When he was satisfied, Makoto broke the kiss, pausing to nuzzle his cheek to the red-head’s before he curled into himself and tucked his head under the other’s chin. It was awkward given his large size even next to Seijuurou, but he made it work and the red-head compensating helped, and he settled there.

“I got your shirt all wet again…” Makoto murmured, slightly apologetic, slightly amused. “Do you have a spare one at my place still?”

Seijuurou chuckled and lifted one of Makoto’s hands to his lips, kissing over his knuckles, his other hand hugging around Makoto’s back. “I think so,” he said quietly between the kisses. “Or I could stay. It would be dry by morning.”

“…Could you? Stay, I mean.”

“If you want me to.”

“I do.”

Seijuurou nodded and slowly lowered Makoto’s hand back to his lap so he could fish his phone with some difficulty from his pocket, unlocking the screen and tapping out a short message to his mother. Silence followed, but it was easier, now, a lot more comfortable than it had been. At least until the red-head’s phone buzzed and a chuckle followed.

“Ma says I have to bring you over tomorrow night for dinner, then,” he said, smiling when Makoto managed a laugh as well. “Apparently I’ve been mean to her for keeping you all to myself.”

“I have missed seeing her,” Makoto admitted. “And your sister. Will your brother be there?”

“Probably. I’m under orders to drag him back home.”

Makoto laughed again and slowly uncurled himself from Seijuurou’s lap, first stretching out his legs and then straightening his back and extending his arms in front of him. “Tide’s coming back in,” he said with a glance to the water beginning to creep up around the bottom of the rock they were sitting on before he pulled himself from the other male’s lap and lowered himself back to the sand. “Let’s head back.”

Seijuurou lingered a moment, replying to the text message from his mother with a confirmation before he stood and then jumped down to land beside Makoto. He pocketed his phone and used his free hand to wrap around the backstroker’s waist, pulling him closer for a slow kiss, holding him there when Makoto returned it.

“Thank you,” Makoto murmured when he had finally pulled away and began to walk up towards the footpath again, his shoes back in one hand and Seijuurou’s hand in the other. “For earlier.”

Seijuurou squeezed the fingers laced with his. “You don’t need to thank me. You know I’m always here for you.”

“I know… I just wish I could properly repay you.”

“It’s enough that you actually do open up to me, and lean on me when you need it. I told you that.”

“What did I do to deserve you, Seijuurou?”

“That’s my line. Now come on. You need to get home and sleep. You’ve got a relay to win tomorrow.”

“You’re not cheering for Samezuka?”

“I have to cheer for my boyfriend at least once.”

(Winning the relay with his friends had been enough make Makoto’s eyes well up, but it was looking up into the stands to see Seijuurou sitting with Makoto’s parents and with a twin on each knee, all of them grinning down at him with looks of pride on their faces that tipped him over the edge, sending tears cascading down his cheeks past a bright grin.)


End file.
